Chapter 305: Secrets
*I love Donna Leigh, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t love her addiction. – Michael Ray*
The clubhouse was full of brothers and old ladies on Monday night. Chance and Celt were playing a round of pool waiting for Trigg to call church. As always, Chance was winning. But Celt had been hanging out with Molly’s daughters and was giving his friend a good game.
“Imogen is not allowed to help you anymore.” Chance laughed.
“There’s plenty of other pool sharks in training over there.” Celt smirked as he sank another ball. “You just miss me scratching on every other shot.”
Chance laughed as his friend missed his next shot. “Keep working on it.” He advised lining up for a shot.
A small, tattooed hand with busted knuckles pushed the last two balls into pockets. Both men looked at Dom as she picked up the two ten-dollar bills and placed it on Celt’s chest. “Congratulations, you won. Chance, I need to talk to you.”
Knowing better than to question her, Chance handed over the pool stick to Jax before following her. Her Mohawk was currently dyed dark purple with lime green highlights. It was done in a complicated set of three intertwined braids and there was a new cut with stitches along the left side of her head.
She dressed like her brothers in dark denim, t-shirt, club cut and motorcycle boots. Where they wore it because they liked it, she wore it to hide any blood that might be on her clothes. With her, there was almost always blood or blood stains on her and her clothes.
Dom opened the door to Trigg’s office, thankful that it was already empty. She closed and locked the door before propping against the desk.
“Michael Lynch. Why are you looking into him?”
“He’s Rye’s dad.”
“Drop it. You’re going to find nothing but pain and heartache.”
Rarely did she ever express any type of emotion. If she did, it was anger, hunger or desire. With any of those three blood and pain could be involved. There was no mistaking the plea in her voice and that unnerved Chance.
“She deserves to know how he died.” He argued.
Dom shook her head. “She deserves to remember the loving father that she knew. And not the man I worked with.” There was no plea in her monotone voice now. It was back to being cold and hard.
However, the implication was clear. Michael may have been a Marine, but it was the same way that Dom had been a soldier. There were certain assignments that were never discussed. Just as no one asked where she went or what she did.
Even now, she could disappear for days or weeks at a time. Sometimes even a month or two. And she *always* had money. Cash. It was harder to trace and to link back to her.
Rye had talked about her dad going away for anything from just a few days to several months. Suddenly, the discrepancy between him being a mechanic and him leaving so often made sense.
“How often did you work with him?”
“Tread carefully with your questions.” Dom warned with a cold glare and smirk.
“Was he a mechanic?”
“He was a damned good mechanic. For our profession.” Dom added the last part with a grin.
“Did he know about Donna Leigh?”
“He knew about her addiction issues and her craziness. He didn’t know about the abuse.”
“She remembered going and playing dress up-”
“They’re dead.” She said pulling out one of her knives and began cleaning out underneath her nails as if she was bored.
Dom knew that everyone thought she did this out of boredom. It was her nervous tick. To cover it, she had made it a habit. But talking about her friend and how he died, made her nervous. You never really retired from their profession. You either died or remained in someone’s crosshairs until you died.
There were things about his death that still made her wonder if it wasn’t a hit. And if it was, who ordered it.
“Who’s dead?” Chance asked confused.
“Don’t ask too many questions. But I was hired with Robocop to take out a child porn ring. I tortured to get names. RC took them out. I found her pictures. They’ve all been destroyed.”
“When?”
“Two, three years ago.” She shrugged her shoulders dismissively. “Look, I met her when she was little. I don’t think she would recognize me, but it’s not a chance I want to take.”
“Did you know?”
With a cold stare, Dom put her knife away expertly. “If I had known what Donna Leigh was doing to those girls, she’d be dead a lot sooner. Painfully.”
Chance nodded. “How did he die?”
There was a flash in her eyes that told him that she knew something, but it was painful. In the seconds between his question and her answer, she saw her friend’s smile only minutes before the bullet shattered the glass and in front of him and then ripped through him. Dom, Robocop, Dragon and Peacemaker all climbed out of the hummer.
They took cover and searched for the sniper. With no other shots being taken, Dragon went back to check on Cam Shaft. As soon as he touched the vehicle, it exploded. A few minutes later, another vehicle approached and told them that the truck had exploded due to an IED.
When they contradicted this statement, they were advised that arguing would only end one way. They all knew what way that was. They would be dead. There would be more gold stars going on a wall in Langley, Virginia with no name or acknowledgement.
“Officially, his vehicle hit an IED. Leave it at that.” Dom still stuck with the story that they had been told so many years ago.
“Dom…”
“Don’t.” She warned. “He was a good man. Loved his wife and his daughters. That’s how he should be remembered.”
“Okay. Is she in any kind of danger or anything from what he did?”
“No. As far as the world is concerned, he was a mechanic that died trying to get home to his girls.” Dom said and Chance saw an unknown emotion cross her face. “He was getting out. The Marines, the game, all of it. For his girls. Donna Leigh was having more issues. Leigh Anne was starting to show symptoms. Ryanne was just a timid little thing. Now I know why.”
“She’s changed a lot in the last five months.” Chance said and then looked surprised. “I can’t believe I’ve only had her in my life for five months.”
“You two are good together.” Dom gave him one of her rare smiles. “Take good care of her.”
